NEED TO KNOW
Big Little Lies creator David E. Kelley shares an update on the forthcoming third season of the hit HBO series, which he tells PEOPLE he’s “hopeful” will happen
“We had a great time doing the first two seasons and we all want to do it again,” Kelley, 69, says
Kelly also confirms that nobody from the cast — Reese Witherspoon, Nicole Kidman, Shailene Woodley, Laura Dern and Zoë Kravitz — is “under contract” yet
Everyone is on board for Big Little Lies season 3 — bosses included.
David E. Kelley, who created the HBO series based on Liane Moriarty’s 2014 novel of the same name, confirms that “everyone is very committed” to making a return to the show, which aired its second season nearly six years ago.
“We’re hoping it happens,” he tells PEOPLE on Monday, June 2 at the Gotham TV Awards in New York City. “We had a great time doing the first two seasons and we all want to do it again.”
“I’m hopeful it’ll happen,” Kelley, 69, who was given the Visionary Tribute at the awards show for Apple TV+’s Presumed Innocent, says.
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Laura Dern, Ivy George, Reese Witherspoon, Shailene Woodley in “Big Little Lies”
However, no one in the cast — Reese Witherspoon, Nicole Kidman, Shailene Woodley, Laura Dern and Zoë Kravitz, who played the main collection of dramatic Monterrey moms — is “under contract” yet, Kelley says.
“You need to corral a lot of high-caliber talent and their publicists, but everyone is very committed to it,” he adds.
Even without contracts officially drawn up, Kelley says it’s “pretty nice to hear” how interested the cast is in returning to the story.
“I think it’s a credit to Liane Moriarty, too, who wrote the original book,” he says. “And she’s written another book that season 3 will be based on. It’s a pretty good collection of talent.”
With Moriarty leading the charge by writing the book that season 3 will be based on, Kelley says the rest of the project is “still very premature.”
“We haven’t really all gotten together to brainstorm yet, but again, it’s a great stable of talent. Once we do [get together], I think we have a good shot of figuring it out,” he says.
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Laura Dern, Nicole Kidman, Zoe Kravitz, Reese Witherspoon and Shailene Woodley pose with the Best Television Limited Series or Motion Picture Made for Television award for ‘Big Little Lies’ at the 2018 Golden Globes
News of a season 3 of the hit HBO series came in 2023 when Kidman said that the cast would be “bringing” the fans a “third” season, which she later admitted she “didn’t realize” she wasn’t supposed to have said.
“Listen, this one already went somewhere and said too much and then I get the call, the ‘ring, ring,’ like, ‘Hey, is that happening?’” Witherspoon, 49, told Vanity Fair of the aftermath of Kidman’s revealing comments.
“Then I’ve got Laura calling me, and Zoë, Shailene. They’re all like, ‘Nic said that we’re making Big Little Lies 3.’”
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The cast of ‘Big Little Lies’ at the 2018 Golden Globes
Last August, Kravitz, 36, told PEOPLE she’s been “waiting by the phone, waiting for the script to be done” on the third season.
“I’m waiting to see, like everybody else,” she said, adding that she’s “excited to do it” even though she knows “nothing” about what’s to come.
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Big Little Lies seasons 1 and 2 can be streamed on Max.
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